Kezi Outreach

Miombo Community Project

Project Location

Dete, Zimbabwe

Age Limit

Minimum 17, maximum determined by potential participant’s health.

Activities

Activities in Dete include, but, do not necessarily guarantee, participation in Red Cross orphan feeding program that feeds 300 children six meals/week. Life skills teaching with primary school children in three community schools. Life skills and teamwork / leadership taught through sports programming, art and crafts and after schools clubs in the afternoons. Assistance in building of new classrooms at Detema High School. Assistance in farming red peppers for use in the area’s ‘elephant pepper’ scheme which serves to protect villagers from the menace of elephants raiding crops from the national park which borders this community. Snare sweeping and other conservation activities such as game counts – conservation activities occur only in response to National Parks requests so cannot be scheduled or promised.

Volunteers have in one instance been called upon to fight a bush fire that threatened the park, assistance offered to the feeding program includes collecting and chopping firewood – volunteers are expected to participate in some strenuous activities, but for the most part activities will not require massive energy exertion. Volunteers may reserve the right to decline participation in any physically challenging activity, but, are encouraged to be willing participants and reminded that, like anything in life, you get as much out of the experience as you put into it! Every concern for the safety of our volunteers is taken by certified guides and Oi staff who will be present and responsible for every activity at the project.

Qualifications

Love of Jesus Christ, servant heart, ability to participate in light intensity outdoor activities. We will train you for everything else that you will need!

Attractions

The lodge borders Hwange National Park - a wildlife reserve the size of Belgium which offers spectacular vistas of the African savannah plains. The park teems with game and gives one a sense of what it must have been like to live before the age of man when animals ruled the planet. Work in the rural community allows an insight into the simple lives of subsistence farmers, their hut dwellings and traditional customs. The camp partners with a local drama group who perform all around the area in an attempt to rescue young men from poverty and the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

Industry

Much of the surrounding community is employed in one way or another by tour operators or lodges operating in nearby Hwange National Park.

Kezi Outreach

Project Management and Support

An operation impact Volunteer Coordinator will accompany volunteers and reside in the project accommodation alongside volunteers to address any issues that may arise. An on site Project Coordinator will be responsible for the actual work at each location and will liaise work schedules and tasks with the Volunteer Coordinator. 

Personal Development/Mentoring

The Volunteer Coordinator will facilitate progress through a discipleship course designed for the volunteers. Volunteers will meet with the Volunteer Coordinator each day to have devotions, discuss their concerns and work through any problems that may be encountered.

Training

Volunteers will receive culture and customs awareness training, bush and animal awareness training to operate safely in the wildlife reserve. Volunteers will also receive an introduction to the life skills material to assist their interaction with vulnerable children at the orphan feeding program. Volunteers will also have an introduction to the local languages (Shona/Ndebele).

Accommodation

Volunteers will stay in comfortable accommodation at Miombo Lodge which borders Zimbabwe’s largest wildlife park, Hwange National Park – the lodge has a swimming pool and satellite television. Internet use can be arranged at an additional fee.

Food

Three meals will be provided each day. Breakfast will be served at the lodge each day while lunch and evening meals will sometimes be taken in the community during an activity. These meals will be provided by a member of Oi staff.

Transport

Fly to Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA). We recommend that you fly to JHB (Johannesburg) or HRE (Harare) and transfer to VFA. We will meet you at the airport! Please do not attempt to arrive by bus, past volunteers have gotten lost! All town transfers will be facilitated by operation impact. Transport within and to rural projects will be coordinated by the Volunteer Coordinator in residence with the volunteers. (An operation impact vehicle will be present at the site. Depending on distance and involvement in various events, our partner tour company, African Christian Tours and Safaris (ACTS) or local transport may be employed by the Volunteer Coordinator.)

Project Cost

£ 995 / US$ 1840 for 1 month £ 1795 / US$ 3320 for 2 month placement. Longer placements are available – £ 800 / US$ 1440 per additional month.

Kezi Outreach

Project Cost Includes:

Kezi Outreach

Project Cost Excludes:

Project Contact Information:

operation impact Head Office - 11 Phillips Dr, Avondale, Harare Tel/fax: +263 4 702814-6